TAT Link Up- Favorite Photo Contest

Thankfully this week's Toddle Along Tuesday link up is open 'til Friday, because it's now become Toddle Along Thursday (for me, at least...) Mama G is hosting a "Favorite Photo Contest" this week and I immediately knew which photo I wanted to enter. I have taken some wonderful pictures over the last 3 years, so I might find something *better* if I went digging. But when it comes to my *favorite* photo, it's this one... hand's down.

Anyone who's been following us on the blog for awhile will certainly remember this shot. I honestly don't know what I love most about it. That it was one of the first 20 pictures I took with my new DSLR back in January 2010, that Brady is as bald a pool ball (and was until he was well past 18 months!), or that there were so many great captions that came after I posted this picture originally...

"Buy high, sell low!"

"Tell your people to call my people!"

"I was gonna call sweetie, really..."

I can't help but smile every time I look at this picture. It's my husband's Sykpe profile pic, so I get to see it pretty often too!

So there you have it, that's my Favorite Photo. I'm submitting it at Growing Up Geeky now... wish me luck!

52:11-13 (Cheating!)

I am beating myself up for falling so behind on Project 52, but I'm bound & determined to get on track. And if I have to cheat to do it... so be it. As I mentioned before, the major reason I've fallen behind on these posts is simply because I haven't been taking that many pictures lately. This makes me sad on so many levels, but I've managed to pull a few pics together to create a collage for the last 3 weeks, that all (sort of) come together. Ok, not really... that's why it's cheating.

52:11 - 52:13

our family likes to... indulge

Whether it's food or play, our family likes to indulge in

simple pleasures and go "all in".

One candy? Nope, better make it two.

Police cars that go round and round... borrrring.

Shoot me up in the sky on the bouncy Froggy ride.

Catapult me across the gym on a rope? You betcha.

Matt & I are "thrill seekers", so I'm happy that Brady

shares our interest in trying new things.

Life is an adventure and it's no fun to sit on the sidelines.

Do I see a family bungee jump in our future?!

Interested in learning more about Project 52? Visit styleberryBLOG for more information. Shawna just had a new baby boy and her photos are amazing!! And check out these great blogs that I follow, also participating in Project 52-- What We're Saying...,Blossoms & Vintage, It's A Graham Life and Quiet Footsteps.

What's In A Name?!

After I saw this cute post on my friend Jen's blog, I decided to join in the "baby name story" fun too (Toddle Along Tuesday is a Link Up sponsored by Growing Up Geeky). It is, after all, all we think about these days. Ok, it's all I think about these days... Well, baby names and "when can I eat again?"

First, I'll share how Brady got his name.

We didn't even begin discussing baby names until we found out the sex, though I had already not-so-secretly named my unborn son & daughter about 10 years prior. Matt immediately veto'd Jacob when I suggested it, and to be honest, I shied away from it as well because it had become so popular in the last decade. And just like that, my dream of having a Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles replica was gone in an instant (I'm not joking. At all.)

We each spent some time coming up with our favorite names, then converged to discuss the lists one afternoon. One look at Matt's list and my response was, "are you trying to pick a fight with me?!" Some of the names on his list were just ridiculous... I'd love to share some of them, but because someone reading this may have a son with one of those names (and I like my face the way it is), I am not listing them here.

While we couldn't decide on a single name, we were able to narrow our list to our top 5 names: Braden, Kyle, Chase, Noah & Gavin. We kept the names secret and decided we would wait until he was born to see which name suited him best. In recovery, we called him each of the names and Braden just fit perfectly (we already knew then that we would call him Brady for short, too.) Over the years, he has really grown into his name and we know without a doubt we picked the right name for him.

People pressed us for our names along the way, but because we already knew the sex, we wanted there to be some sort of surprise come birth day. We plan to keep our name for #2 a secret as well...

... which brings me to now. Playing the name game for Baby Boy #2 has been much harder. Matt thinks we should just make it easy and choose from the 4 names we didn't use for Brady, but for some reason, it sort of feels like picking from the "rejects" to me. I think we should go back to the drawing board, but starting over is tough and we are having a much harder time agreeing this time 'round.

Braden's middle name is Charles, after Matt's grandfather, so we'd like to use a family name for this baby's middle name as well. This narrows the options for first names for me, because I'd love to do some sort of nickname with his initials (I know, I know, I'm weird), but I may just have to let that go.

I guess the next step is for us to retreat to our individual corners and come up with our list of faves. If there is even one name on the lists that overlap then I guess we've found our winner! Otherwise we'll have to go with our current nickname for the lil' peanut... Fitzgibbon Detail. Don't ask.

Stay tuned... name to be revealed sometime around mid-July!

He's Irish and He Knows It!

We really got into the St. Patrick's Day spirit this year! Not only did we hop on the Pinterest leprechaun trap bandwagon (can we say, great project to keep Brady busy for almost an hour?!), but we spiced up St. Patty's Day morning with a "visit" from Lucky the Leprechaun, green pancakes, milk and other... decorations. Yes, we may have gone a little bit overboard, but Brady really enjoyed all the efforts we put into the day and at the rate he's growing up, he'll probably be way above it all by next year.

I chronicled the morning in great detail on Mama Dish, so be sure to check it out there. But if you don't feel like blog hopping, here are a few shots to give you an idea of all how it all played out.

To Move or Not to Move...

The weather here is awful... so it's a great day to snuggle up with a hot cup of coffee and my laptop and blog! Seriously, winter has finally come to NorCal (after a dry & mild Dec-Feb) and it's been raining and 50 degrees almost every day this month. Blah.

But that doesn't mean we can't keep ourselves busy. Oh no, there is plenty to do at the Eatherton household!!

After much debate, we decided a few weeks ago that we would not be renewing our rental contract and that we would look for a new house that had 3 proper bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Our current house is technically 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, with a "renovated" 1 car garage that they call a 3rd bedroom. Because it is not properly insulated and holds NO heat, we've called it an office/storage room for the last 2 years. The last thing I'd ever want to call it is a nursery.

But... after several Craigslist searches, some soul searching, talks with the landlord, more debate, tears and MANY conversations about how to a arrange a big move with virtually no help... we've now decided to stay in our shrinky-dink house. For two more years. Yowza.

Because the landlord agreed to make some improvements to the 3rd bedroom/garage to make it livable, we just couldn't justify a short-term move at this time... but we may need to add a port-o-potty in the backyard. Thank goodness there is a Starbucks in walking distance (the #1 reason why I agreed to stay where we are)!

With all that being said... we've got a lot on our plates right now. "Construction" on the 3rd bedroom/garage starts this Tuesday and Matt and I have been frantically distributing all the furniture, office materials and misc. storage from that room into the existing rooms in our house, as that will soon be Brady's new room. We've decided to leave all of Brady's furniture in his room and hand it down to his baby brother, which means that will become the new nursery.

And the good news for Brady? He gets a new room and new stuff, yay!

We've been searching for "big boy furniture" for B, but can't really do much until the construction is done. In the meantime, we've been adding shelving and other "creative storage solutions" to make room for all our crap in the laundry room, kitchen, playroom, etc... It's been an interesting process, to say the least.

Oh, and we have lots of stuff for sale! If you need an oversize chair/ottoman, a baker's rack, computer, computer desk, or many other misc. items, just let us know :) If it's not nailed down, we're willing to part with it.

It will be fun to see transition in almost every room in the house, so keep an eye out here for lots of before/after shots and updates on the madness! Looks like this is where we'll be for the next few years... visitors are always welcome :)

52:9 & 52:10 (Slipping Way Behind...)

It's been a very busy March for the Eathertons, thought you'd never guess it by looking at this baron blog. If you're quiet, you can actually hear the crickets...

I dove head first into my other blog, and I'm really happy with the momentum we've picked up there this month... but all my planning, writing, DIY crafting and Pintereting (I think that's actually a word now) has caused me to seriously neglect this blog, and my role as family historian in general. Can you believe that I have only taken a handful of photos in the last 2 months? And even worse... that I just spent 4 days in Chicago without any toddler distraction, snuggled up to two beautiful newborn babies, and I never took my camera out of the bag once.

What is wrong with me?!

Aside from not having the time to post for Project 52, not having any photos to choose from makes sustaining a photo project extremely difficult. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stretching it with these two... But I am dedicated to making it to 52:52 and there's no shame in trying. With that, I frantically give you weeks 9 & 10, and hope to be caught up with 11 this Friday. Phew!

52:9

our family values friendship

Brady is a very outgoing child and has always

made friends easily. Since we moved to CA,

he's become very close to two kids (Leo & Lyla)

and we have thoroughly enjoyed watching

these friendships blossom. We value the relationships

we have with our friends from grade school,

high school and college, and hope Brady can

build long-lasting friendships as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

52:10

our family loves all animals

{Well, except for cats... sorry}

Matt and I both grew up with pets, so we always knew

that we'd have a pet-friendly home when we had

children. By "Pet-friendly", I mean "dog" and the

"misc. pet" of our child's choosing (assuming the misc. pet

weighs under 5 lbs. and is not a snake or a cat).

We had the pleasure of pet-sitting Leo's fish

last week and I have to say, it was nice to have

another girl in the house (yes, Fireman is a girl).

I have a feeling come July, Brady will be getting

more than just a little brother...

Stay tuned for another installment of Project 52 in just 2 short days! I hope... :)

Interested in learning more about Project 52? Visit styleberryBLOG for more information. Shawna just had a new baby boy and her photos are amazing!! And check out these great blogs that I follow, also participating in Project 52-- What We're Saying...,Blossoms & Vintage, It's A Graham Life and Quiet Footsteps.

52:8 (Catching Up...)

I knew it wouldn't take me long before I fell behind... but I'm still very dedicated to Project 52 and I'm trying to get back on track. Please bear with me if it happens again (when it happens again. Ugh.)

52:8

our family is creating traditions

I love that Brady is getting to the age where he

is starting to understand what a tradition is.

The first one we've begun in the Eatherton household

(and stuck to for many weeks now!)

is "Family Movie Night". He knows when it's Friday and

proudly announces, "it's Family Movie Night!!"

If it were up to Brady,

every weekend would consist of TWO movie nights,

but Mom & Dad can only handle so much Disney.

To be fair though, Brady has grown tired of the typical

toddler selections (Lady & The Tramp was a bust)

and has taken up a love for classics such as

The Wizard of Oz, Goonies & The Ghostbusters (I & II).

No, not all of those movies are "3 year old appropriate",

but he really enjoys them so we don't fight it.

I can't wait to see what tradition we create next!

Interested in learning more about Project 52? Visit styleberryBLOG for more information. Shawna just had a new baby boy and her photos are amazing!! And check out these great blogs that I follow, also participating in Project 52-- What We're Saying...,Blossoms & Vintage, It's A Graham Life and Quiet Footsteps.

If you're posting for Project 52 on your blog, please leave a comment with your URL and I'll include you in my post next week! Thanks for following along.